I don't think it was that big of a deal the way Azure did it, and you'll be spoiled on the events of one or the other regardless of how you do it. I played Zero and Azure last, and I still really enjoyed the experience. They still managed to surprise me from time to time, too.
saying that there's a civil war, specifying the factions, saying Osborne got shot, saying Osborne survived, saying how long the war lasts and that Crossbell gets conquered for how long are all fairly significant end-game plot points that are casually dropped, the last few of which are just explicitly told to you in the end credits for zero reason at all except as a half-assed way to tease Cold Steel and to try to rescue the rushed, anticlimactic ending of the game in a pathetically low-budget attempt not even Unisuga could rescue